Mon ordinateur dit 'non'

[sonnetpete]

Came downstairs this morning, turned on the laptop and realised after a few minutes Windows hadn't booted...it was stuck in a loop at the "loading" screen. Rebooted with no effect then have run "Windows Repair Facility" (something that came with the MSI preinstalled). This tells me it can't be repaired as there has been a change to the system configuration. My sleepwalking must be developing into computer tinkering as well...........

Anyway, I'm writing this on the spare laptop (under Linux Mint) and have got into the faulty laptop via Puppy Linux on a memory stick. Are there any suggestions as to how I could go about repairing the old one? I can probably transfer files, photo's over to this one via a memory stick but I'd really like to transfer my bookmarks for Chrome over, though as far as I can see Mint doesn't support Chrome, only Firefox. Can anyone confirm that it's possible to merge Chrome bookmarks into Firefox?

Other than that the "system configuration" may turn into "confligration"........

 

[Captain Jack]

Try booting into safe mode and go from there.

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, Mint supports Chrome in its guise as Chromium >> Just get it from the Software Centre or Synaptic (whatever floats one's bateau)

 

[Lazarus]

As for the Windows kit, I suspect your MBR is goosed as the result of incipient Hard Drive failure.

 

[sonnetpete]

Try booting into safe mode and go from there.

CJ, it doesn't get as far as allowing me to boot in safe mode. Just "Microsoft Windows" and that scrolling green bar....unless I'm missing something.....

 

[Captain Jack]

You are. When you first turn on your laptop, keep tapping F8 key until a menu shows up. Choose Safe Mode - with networking if you want. This menu appears before the green bar above.

 

[sonnetpete]

CJ, it has started up under safe mode and I'm trying to run a virus and then a malware check just in case but naturally it's slow......what else should I be looking for or doing to isolate the problem?.....does the fact it booted up in safe mode mean the hard drive is okay or is it just a false dawn?

 

[Captain Jack]

Could be anything. It said that the configuration has changed earlier - have you added any new hardware or software or even updated drivers (Windows Update)? Do you have any restore points to do a system restore?

Another thing you can try is starting up in debug/bootlogging mode from the same menu to see what filename it gets stuck on.

 

[Lazarus]

Both times I've had a Hard Disc failure, the symptoms were really painfully slow (I mean 30mins or more!) Boot-Up! That was when I Backed Up all my Stuff. Good Insurance.

Glad to say your problem doesn't seem to reflect that.

 

[Topper]

Yes bookmarks are not browser specific fortunately and one browser can interpret anothers. Whilst I can see this has been an ongoing thread for some hours now, it would not boot into safe or indeed any mode if MBR was damaged as it could not find the hidden boot files. Sounds more like an unresolvable conflict to me, try booting into safe mode with networking to see if you get a similar hang, if you do then reboot in just safe mode and look at your control panel/ system/ hardware/ device manager/ network card details and if anything suspicious or not as expected delete the device and allow to reboot into normal mode and re-install drivers. This happened to my XP PC a short time ago indeed it was June just after the latest XP updates were released... they would not would they?

 

[sonnetpete]

That's been quite useful Topper. I tried booting in safe mode with networking and it hung. Rebooted ok in just safe mode and found a conflict (device with an exclamation mark) which was classed as an IR device. Deleted this but it still hangs. I can't see any other conflicts but in Windows/downloaded program files, there are three files which are flagged as "damaged". They were created in 2006 but accessed today and are named e.g. 8FFBF65BE-2C9C-4669-84BD-5829DC-0B603C.

I'm tempted to delete them on the basis it can't make things worse. However I'll leave them for now. I haven't added any software or hardware in ages and it was all running ok last night. I haven't accepted a Windows update in months and AFIK the laptop can't be updated remotely when it's switched off.

I'll have another look at files on the hard drive by loading Puppy Linux but other than that I'm stumped.

 

[Lazarus]

Glad you're making progress: Windows is about as useless as a chocolate teapot when it is out of kilter >>> Not in your case, but in many others one gets presented with an Error Message telling you that you have a problem ( Kind of stating the bl**din' obvious, mostly!) and providing nice Codes that generally require extensive research to decipher and skills that most users don't have to resolve them.

 

[PaulR]

When you're in safe mode you could try rolling back to an earlier known working configuration rather than actually deleting anything.

 

[Topper]

Paul's suggestion was going to be my next post.

Deleting the drivers for the cat5 port would not do anything untoward but deleting those files might, as Tivu states they are non-descript to say the least

 

[sonnetpete]

I'm not doing anything with those files tonight. I am of a mind (supposing I can access and copy the files I want to keep) to ditch Windows on the defunct laptop and go with Linux Mint. There's little I do other than a bit of word processing and internet based surfing and chat, so it wouldn't be too much of a sea change.

 

[Lazarus]

Can't argue with that.


Puppy Linux should be able to see your Files on the Windows Partition, nescafe?


Then copy to USB.


And instead of just copying across Bookmarks, I saved myself a lot of work by finding my Browser (and Mail Client) Profiles and copying those, ready to replace the virgin ones in a new Mint Install. That was Firefox and Thinderbird, but I can't think Chrome/Chromium will differ enormously.

 

[Topper]

but I can't think Chrome/Chromium will differ enormously.

With Chrome it is totally automatic if you have a gmail account or Google+ as soon as you install Chrome on any pc and login to google it automatically synchoronizes the existing bookmarks and makes your browser identical to the master version where you first installed Chrome.

 

[sonnetpete]

With Chrome it is totally automatic if you have a gmail account or Google+ as soon as you install Chrome on any pc and login to google it automatically synchoronizes the existing bookmarks and makes your browser identical to the master version where you first installed Chrome.

Strange, I installed Chrome on this laptop running Linux Mint and have signed in to Google +. All it's done is copy over the bookmarks from Firefox that's installed on here as well. I have the "faulty" laptop running and online using Puppy Linux but there's no sign of a transfer of my previous Chrome bookmarks appearing on here. Does Google+ only support Windows? Am I correct in thinking that the bookmarks are collected from a Google 'cloud' or will Google not be able to access them because neither laptop is running Windows?

 

[timo_w2s]

I've not used a Linux based Google product but I've seen syncing working on Windows, Macs, iPads and iPhones so I would imaging it would work just as well on other operating systems.

Had you signed in and synced up bookmarks/history/passwords/etc on the faulty computer at some stage in the past? If not then there won't be anything to sync.

 

[sonnetpete]

You see, I'm not that sure Timo. I did sign up to Google quite a while back but I'm not certain that I did any syncing. I do have a "syncing" feeling (sorry) that I'll just have to transfer them via USB and will have to do that for photo's and documents anyway.